"So happy": Today reporter Brooke Boney speaks out about Pauline Hanson dumping
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<p><em>Today</em> show reporter Brooke Boney has said that she was "so happy" to see Pauline Hanson fired by Nine as Hanson made comments about social housing tenants that are "disgusting".</p>
<p>“I am so happy to see her gone,” Boney said on ABC-TV’s <em>Q&A</em> program on Monday night.</p>
<p>“I grew up in Housing Commission. To me, I was thinking about all of those kids sitting at home watching.</p>
<p>“All of those people trapped in their apartments, watching and thinking, ‘This is what Australia thinks of us. This is what the rest of our country thinks – is that we’re alcoholics and drug addicts’. And that’s disgusting.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr">What can be done to protect the residents of Melbourne’s locked down towers from further vilification? And what can be to ensure these residents have access to daily necessities? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://t.co/5u5kLbJz5I">pic.twitter.com/5u5kLbJz5I</a></p>
— QandA (@QandA) <a href="https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1280107166385356800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
<p>“I’m all for free speech, and I think that people, when they have different perspectives and different opinions, that most of the time it does help drive argument forward or debate forward or policy forward," Boney explained.</p>
<p>“But when you use it to vilify people, or to be deliberately mean and mean-spirited, it’s …. that, to me, is disgusting.</p>
<p>“She says hurtful things about Aboriginal people as well that upset me.”</p>
<p>Boney is a Gamilaroi/Gomeroi woman and was one of four panellists on Q&A's episode that focused on COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, cancel culture, alcohol in lockdown and political ethics. </p>
<p>Shadow Federal Minister for Environment and Water Terri Butler said that Hanson had been a "public racist since 1996".</p>
<p>“She used her first maiden speech to say that we were in danger of being ‘swamped by Asians’ and used her second speech saying we were in danger of being ‘swamped by Muslims.</p>
<p>“We’re not talking about someone who just woke up this morning a racist. Shows have been platforming her. I think it’s a business model. I think it’s all about her.</p>
<p>“She’s got a party built on a brand. The brand is built on her personality. Her business model has worked.”</p>
<p>However, ex-Liberal MP Christopher Pyne disagreed.</p>
<p>“I think that Pauline Hanson genuinely believes the things that she says,” he said.</p>
<p>“She’s been quite consistent about it – consistently bad, right? – but she’s been consistent about it.</p>
<p>“I’ve been surprised watching Pauline Hanson over 20-odd years that her views haven’t changed very much.</p>
<p>“There’s definitely a cadre of people who believe and agree with what Pauline says.</p>
<p>“And they’ve been the one party from the non-Labor side of politics that’s actually been quite successful over the last 20 years, One Nation.”</p>
<p>Hanson made the offensive comments on the <em>Today</em> show about the Melbourne residents that are trapped inside nine housing commission towers.</p>
<p>Co-host Ally Langdon told Hanson that some of the tower residents haven't eaten properly since Saturday due to the latest restrictions.</p>
<p>“Ah come on Ally, we’ve seen food being delivered there,” Hanson replied. “The fact is a lot of them are drug addicts as well, they are getting their medication, they are alcoholics so they’re being looked after in that way.</p>
<p>“They are actually getting paid extra money. Why are they getting paid extra money? For what? They are not leaving the premises.”</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr">3,000 people are in their second day of quarantine in Melbourne's public housing commission towers. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9Today?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9Today</a> <a href="https://t.co/tpgdWmMTA9">pic.twitter.com/tpgdWmMTA9</a></p>
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTodayShow/status/1279861524128030720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<p>Hanson then went on to say that an inability to speak English had led to the towers being shut down.</p>
<p>“A lot of these people are from non-English speaking backgrounds, probably English is their second language who haven’t adhered to the rules of social distancing. They all used a lot of the same laundry,” she said.</p>
<p>“So the fact is you’ve got to look at why they are in that situation. Why is it they are in that situation? Why has the Government gone to this high-rise building and shut it down? Possibly because a lot of these people weren’t doing the right thing.</p>
<p>“Is the Government worried about the other areas that are shut down? You know, the people in their homes, are they able to actually get out and buy the food as well? There has to be a reason why they have targeted this set of blocks, apartment blocks. Ask that question.”</p>
<p>After these comments, Hanson suggested that refugees from war-torn countries should be able to handle being locked up.</p>
<p>“You know, these people, I saw them taking a truckload of food to them, all the rest of it, if they are from war-torn countries, which some of these people are, they know what it is like to be in tough conditions,” she said.</p>
<p>“So I’d say, you know, have a look at the facts before you criticise and that aspect and I think the governments and all of these other, you know, these interest groups an everyone will make sure they’re well looked after."</p>
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